Growth of data storage capacity for computer systems has far outpaced the growth in transmission speed for transferring data over networks between computer systems. The discrepancy is so great that transmitting a large amount of data from one storage facility to another storage facility can be prohibitively costly (e.g., requiring costly system upgrades) or lengthy (e.g., transmission taking several months or longer). Physically moving the storage media may leave the data on legacy hardware or may not be an available option (e.g., when the data is stored by a storage service on behalf of the customer). Some solutions have involved transferring the data to a portable storage device (e.g., network attached storage devices) and shipping the portable storage device to another storage facility where the data is transferred to another storage system.
For example, when a customer of a storage service provider wishes to move a large quantity of data from the customer's site to a location at the storage service provider, the customer may save the data onto a device and ship the device to the storage service provider. However, the confidentiality of the data may be compromised for various reasons. For example, during shipment, mistakes may occur that prevent a storage device from being shipped to the correct destination. Moreover, the device may be intercepted by a third party. Thus, a malicious third party may access confidential data on the device. In some cases, the device may arrive at the storage service provider without any indication that unauthorized access occurred.
Further, different customers may use different types of storage devices to transfer data to the storage service provider. New storage devices and techniques are constantly being developed and adopted by customers. Therefore, as the amount of data transferred from customers grows, it may become increasingly difficult for a storage service provider to transfer the data from multiple disparate storage devices in a secure and efficient manner. Moreover, customers may lack the computing power to efficiently encrypt or otherwise process data before the data is securely stored onto a storage device.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.